Game Design as Player Best Practices

Something I’ve noticed from talking a ton over the past few weeks about Band-Aids & Bullet Holes (still on Kickstarter until Friday of the week this publishes) is that so much of the game’s design stems from me observing my own play in any game, thinking about what leads to the kind of play I enjoy, and then incorporating that as rules and procedures into Band-Aids & Bullet Holes. For example: I like scenes with strong, clear conflicts between characters, especially when those conflicts are between player characters. I’ve learned a lot about how to make those scenes good by playing a lot, and BABH’s rules push you to establish exactly this kind of scene. This probably isn’t that surprising in retrospect, but it’s had the side effect of me returning to the game with an eye for this and discovering all kinds of mechanics in play that I think can be distilled down to techniques, advice, and best practices one might take to another game if you want to play the kind of “prestige TV drama”…